Attaching a suture to a bone is a task that is well known in the art of surgery. A common solution is to screw a threaded screw into the bone. However, screwdrivers used to perform this task are often complex and/or expensive. Another solution described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,700 to Beyar et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, is to insert a threaded bone anchor into the bone. A disadvantage of both this and the previous techniques is that a hard foreign body is left implanted in the body. In general, it is desirable to leave as small an amount as possible of foreign material in the human bone. Additionally, screws and bone anchors typically cause a considerable amount of trauma to the bone, which trauma is undesirable.
PCT publication WO 97/47246, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a suture insertion device that purports to form channels in a bone for the suture to be tied through the channel. The needles suggested in this PCT publication for forming a curved channel are either curved or are super-elastic needles that are supposed to curve inside the bone. In general, these needles are inserted into the bone at a perpendicular thereto by pushing them along a suitable bore. An alterative method suggested is drilling using a rotary drill, along a curved path. However, it is noted that drills usually damage a large amount of bone.
Biolectron, Inc. provides a device ("CurvTek") which drills along a curved path in a bone, from two ends of the path, using air-pressure powered rotary drill bits,